The subway station at Sendlinger Tor has been completely renovated for five years. While the underground is gradually becoming more spacious and chic, the traffic situation on the surface is particularly precarious for cyclists. In and out of the city, only narrow strips are available to them. Conflicts with drivers are programmed in this way, especially out of town at the junction with Sonnenstrasse. There has long been a red bike lane here that motorists must cross to turn right. That should change in the future. When the work on the subway station is expected to be completed in 2023, the surface will also be redesigned. This Wednesday, the city council’s mobility committee will decide on a new concept with wide and secured cycle paths.
Because there is actually enough space in front of the Sendlinger Tor, but it traditionally belonged to the drivers. In the future, they will have to do without the left turn lane (which is currently closed anyway) on the way out of town. So if you want to drive from Oberanger in the direction of Blumenstrasse, you have to turn onto An der Hauptfeuerwache. Wider cycle paths are also planned for Sonnenstrasse and Lindwurmstrasse, but only as an interim solution for the time being. The administration is still working on variants for the final design. “For the Sonnenstrasse and Lindwurmstrasse we are realizing viable provisional measures until we implement the goals of the decision on Radentscheid-Munich, the old town with few cars and the boulevard Sonnenstrasse,” says SPD city councilor Andreas Schuster. “In this way, we quickly have safe solutions without obstructing future developments.”
According to old plans, the original condition on the surface should actually be restored. That’s off the table now. There will be restrictions for motorists due to the disappearance of lanes, which means that the buses could get stuck in the backlog in the city center. However, the concept of a city center with few cars envisages in the future that hardly any motorized individual traffic will flow into the center and the risk of traffic jams will then be a thing of the past.
“The plans that are now being discussed are shaped by the spirit of the traffic turnaround,” says Green City Councilor Gudrun Lux. In the future there will finally be more safety for weaker road users.